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Posted by
CerealStartupGuy
on 2009-04-30

PUBLIC:

Met with Ross Levinsohn, Mickie Rosen and David Chung. Great group, very laid back with interesting ideas. All three seemed to understand our space (online publishing) and got our value prop fairly quickly. Good questions, indicating that they were thinking about parallel applications of our technology. Overall a very constructive and enjoyable first meeting that lasted over 90 minutes. Side note: Their new Santa Monica office is very zen - feels like you are entering a spa.

Easily, the most arrogant VC I have ever come across.....and that is no small achievement in the valley. He came 20 minutes late in to the meeting, refused to let me go through the presentation and within 3 minutes told me my deal was the dumbest idea he had ever heard of and how stupid could I be. I was shocked to hear this. My first experience with such a character. The other partner who had brought me in was so embarassed, he continues to apologize on behalf of Velocity to this day. I walked out and raised money within a month. Keyur is full of himself and treats entrepreneurs like crap. Stay away.

Although Comventures/Velocity did not fund our company, Patrick McGill has been very helpful leveraging his extensive contacts to get us meetings with other VCs. Patrick is not a part of the investment team--he owns corporate relationships for Velocity. Patrick has also helped with introductions to industry executives that resulted in face-to-face sales meetings. Patrick's extensive connections have been very helpful to our company.

I think these guys are an all-star team -- great backgrounds. Pitching was very efficient -- they have so much hands-on operating experience with consumer services that they understood everything without needing the standard explanations. I think their experience running online services sets them apart from other funds I've pitched. Now that they've merged with ComVentures they have a lot more money to invest are doing bigger deals.

ComVentures has joined forces with Velocity and the new merged firm has an all-star line-up. Our meeting with the partnership was one of the most enjoyable pitches I have been in -- they really seemed to understand the consumer space and they were very engaged and attentive. Best of all the partnership seems to think as one and they move very quickly. I've met with a lot of funds and I have to say this was one of the better meetings I've had. I think it's a new era for this group -- the merger was a great move and brings some serious operational and market experience to the fund. Frankly they were better and more knowledgeable than 90% of the funds I've met with. And they're younger and more hungry, not resting on their laurels like a lot of the older funds. I highly recommend taking a meeting with them. (I have no relationship to this fund at present and this is my personal unsolicited opinion as a long-time CEO and entrepreneur)

Posted by
sarto
on 2007-08-08

PUBLIC:

with regard to consumer internet, found them to be not very knowledgable and a little defensive about it. roland, the senior partner, was abrupt, interrupted frequently with comments that seemed to want to showcase his observations rather than be constructive to our pitch. unfortunately, he's the key decision maker and others are really gatekeepers.

Posted by
upperchelon12
on 2007-07-25

PUBLIC:

I recently started shopping for investors again after changing our area of focus about year and a half ago. I have been hearing negative things about ComVentures, but I said what the hell and met with them, with Baris K..

It was a good first meeting, his feedback was very helpful. He seems to have a good understanding of our industry and a good vision of where it may go.

I haven't received funding from them but our meetings have been very helpful to me. I was a newbie, but I learned a lot from our meetings. They are friendly, easily accessible and very helpful. I'd consider them as a perfect first stop. You should take a look at Baris' blog (http://baris.typepad.com) before making a pitch.

Posted by
FounderBelle
on 2007-04-17

PUBLIC:

We had a good meeting with Baris. For the most part he seems to get it. Told us that we would probably have a cheque within 2 weeks, but then didn't even have us meet anyone else. Regardless..he was ok.